In the past, in one form employed for electroplating steel wire in a continuous loop manner the cathode condition was created by contacting the upper surface of the wire loop pattern with one or more steel rollers which were connected to the cathode side of a rectifier. The wire in loop form was supported from below for continuous conveyance by a number of rubber-coated steel rollers. This system has proven to possess some disadvantages. For one thing, these steel cathode rollers that contact the wire loop pattern, in time build up with plated material and eventually must be removed and de-plated. This is very costly in terms of man hours consumed and the lost production time. Another condition is related to the use of the upper steel roller or rollers to establish the cathode connection with the loops which allowed only a partial line contact between the roller or rollers and the moving wire loops.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved electrolytic cell for cleaning, plating or otherwise treating, elongated material either in a continuous or batch form wherein the material is supported by a steel carrying means such as a chain supported by a steel support such as a track which transfers current to the chain and material to be treated.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide in an electrolytic cell a system for plating wire and the like, wherein steel chains are employed to support the wire loops substantially the entire time the wire is being plated, and adapted to continuously convey the wire in loop form through an electroplating tank in a generally horizontal path of travel, a steel track for supporting each chain in a sliding manner therebetween, substantially throughout the process while supporting the wire, means for causing said track to be connected to the cathode source of the electrolytic plating process in which the electrical current passes through the track, then through the chain and then into the wire.
In another object, the anode tray or trays are supported by, and attached to, one or more steel members which are connected to the anode source of the electrolytic plating process in which these steel members are electrified in the same means as the means used to electrify the chain support tracks.